LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Glencore, up 2.7%, BG Group, up 2.4% and Royal Dutch Shell A and B shares up 1.6% and 1.9%. Oil-related stocks are pushing higher Friday, benefiting from a jump in Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices overnight.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Tesco, down 1.6%. The Financial Times reported that Tesco is planning to receive a USD844 million dividend from its Homeplus business in South Korea in order to bring down the cost of the business for the suitors interested in acquiring it. Three private equity bidders, comprising MBK Partners, Carlyle Group and an Affinity-KKR consortium, have submitted final bids for the business, but Tesco is now considering taking a dividend payment for the company in order to bring down the sale price and get the divestment completed, the FT said, citing a source close to the matter.
Sage, down 1.5%. A claim for damages made by former shareholders of software firm MYOB Group Ltd, in relation to Sage pulling out of a deal to buy MYOB from Australian private equity firm Archer Capital in 2011, has been dismissed on all counts. Sage said it will now be taking steps to recover the costs it incurred during the legal proceedings.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Marshalls, up 5.5%. The landscape products company said its pretax profit leaped in the first half of 2015 on the back of better revenue and improved margins. The company said its pretax profit in the six months to the end of June was up to GBP20.8 million, compared to a GBP14.0 million profit a year earlier, a 48% rise. Marshalls said trading conditions continue to be positive in its key markets, with both strong order intake and sales growth. Should this continue into the second half, the company anticipates its full-year results will come in ahead of its original expectations.
Computacenter, up 2.1%. The company said it expects its 2015 adjusted profit performance to be slightly ahead of its original expectations due to a boost from one-off gains, as it posted a rise in pretax profit for the first half of 2015. The IT services company reported pretax profit of GBP70.7 million, up significantly from GBP18.0 million a year before, despite revenue declining slightly to GBP1.44 billion from GBP1.46 billion, boosted by a GBP42.2 million gain from its sale of its recycling business R.D Trading Ltd in February.
Alent, up 2.2%. The specialty chemicals company posted a fall in pretax profit and revenue in the first half of 2015 on Friday, primarily due to weaker volumes in its electronics end markets, as the group progresses with its takeover by US-based Platform Specialty Products Corp. Alent said it expects an improvement in trading in the second half of the year, in line with the cyclical upturn in electronics and new product launches in the sector.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Debenhams, down 5.7%. The department store operator was downgraded to Sell from Neutral by UBS.
Restaurant Group, down 2.4%. Shares in the restaurant operator which owns chains including Frankie & Benny's, Garfunkel's and Chiquito, were down despite it reporting growth in profit in the first half of 2015 as it achieved strong trading in each of its brands and business areas and said that the company is set for continued strong growth for the remainder of the year.
Jimmy Choo, down 2.3%. The luxury shoe, handbag and accessories maker was down despite reporting a huge rise in pretax profit in the first half of 2015 as revenue grew in its retail division and it booked lower exceptional costs and capital expenditure. The company said it made a GBP20.2 million pretax profit in the six months ended June 30, multiplying from the GBP1.3 million profit it made in the first half of 2014. But whilst the company's revenue grew 6.5%, its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation - adjusted for exceptional costs - rose only 0.5% to GBP27.7 million from GBP27.6 million.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Bacanora Minerals, up 24% and Rare Earth Minerals, up 18%. Both companies said their Sonora lithium project in Northern Mexico has signed a lithium supply deal with Tesla Motors, the US-based electric sports car and energy storage products company. On condition that the Sonora project reaches certain performance milestones in the next two years, Tesla will buy lithium hydroxide to feed the manufacturing of batteries at its Gigafactory in Nevada. One of the conditions will be that the Sonora project can supply lithium hydroxide in accordance with volumes and timeframes which Tesla will determine.
Formation Group, up 13%. The company received GBP2.0 million as part of its profit share agreement for a property in London. Formation announced a deal in July with Sunbel Development Ltd and Pinacle Developments in relation to a development property on Streatham High Road in south London. It has now received GBP2.0 million from that agreement and will reinvest the funds in its future property developments.
LGO Energy, up 7.8%. The company said testing is now underway on the second and third wells drilled on Pad-5 at the Goudron field in Trinidad. LGO said that, after the initial clean-up, well GY-677 delivered a maximum flow rate of 380 barrels of oil per day, while well GY-676 has flowed at rates up to 240 barrels per day.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Motive Television, down 18%. The broadcasting technology company reported a slightly widened pretax loss for its first half as it continued to develop and invest in its new products, which offset a reduction in its administrative costs. It posted a pretax loss of GBP1.8 million for the half year to end-June, widened from a pretax loss of GBP1.6 million a year before, as revenue rose slightly to GBP673,410 from GBP577,740, mostly as a result of higher financial costs.
Huntsworth, down 8.2%. The healthcare communications and public relations firm said it it expects to see profitability improve in the second half of 2015 as benefits from its restructuring actions it took in the first half, as heavy impairment and restructuring costs led it to report a swing to a pretax loss in its first half. It reported a pretax loss of GBP45.9 million for the half year to end-June, swung from a pretax profit of GBP6.3 million a year before, on revenue of GBP83.2 million compared to GBP83.6 million, primarily as a result of exceptional costs of GBP51.5 million.
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By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
30 May 2014 08:02
Formation Group Losses Widen As Gross Margins Narrow
LONDON (Alliance News) - Property development and project management business Formation Group PLC Friday said its losses widened in the first half, as its cost of sales ballooned and gross profit margin narrowed. The company, which operates from offices in Hackney, east London, posted preta
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